Unconscious F-16 Pilot Saved by Auto-GCAS Auto Pilot

Unconscious F-16 Pilot Saved by Auto-GCAS Auto Pilot

Have a look at how Unconscious F-16 Pilot Saved by Auto-GCAS Auto Pilot

This newly declassified video footage from the head-up-display of a U.S. Air Force Arizona Air National Guard F-16 records the dramatic moment when its unconscious pilot is saved from certain death by the aircraft’s Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System.

The event is considered the fourth confirmed “save” of an aircraft by the system since Auto-GCAS was introduced into the Air Force F-16 fleet in late 2014.

Developed over almost three decades by Lockheed Martin

NASA and the Air Force Research Laboratory, the system is designed to automatically execute a ground-avoiding maneuver if it detects an impending collision.

Aimed at reducing accidents caused by controlled flight into terrain by 90%, the system completed research and development under Air Combat Command’s Fighter Risk Reduction Program in 2010.

It began transitioning to the Block 40/50 F-16 fleet in September 2014 as part of the M6.2+ Operational Flight Program (OFP) software update.

Auto-GCAS continuously compares a prediction of the aircraft’s trajectory against a terrain profile generated from onboard terrain elevation data.